Did you know that in the 1950s, about half of people who died in hospitals received an autopsy?

Did you know that today that percentage is in the single digits?

Autopsies are one of those things that we've all seen on TV.

We think we know what they're for and when they happen.

But the reality is way more intriguing

and complicated.

I want to start with the obvious. We all know about the flashy reasons to do an autopsy on

someone who's just died, to solve a crime, to shed light on a mysterious, strange or gruesome

death. And then there is the everyday hospital-based

work of autopsies to help families and physicians understand disease, the effects of aging,

and not just the cause of death, but the condition of the body at the end of its life. Those kinds of autopsies have been in decline for decades.

And that's a big loss, according to two people that I talked to on this week's episode.

They are two of autopsies' biggest fans, a pathologist who spent his career doing autopsies,

and a novelist who set out to do some research for his book

and quickly became obsessed.

This is the one thing I am really evangelical about.

I really have come to care deeply about this

to the point where people are sometimes like,

please stop talking.

This is death, sex, and money.

The show from Slate about the things we think about a lot. I need to talk about more.

I'm in a sale.

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